Page 73 of Devil's Game

“So, tell me, Giana, what was your plan?” A cruel smirk curled on his lips that made my stomach twist in response. I knew the malice glinting in his eyes only meant one thing—that hethought he’d won. Little did he know there was so much he didn’t know.

“You’re right, okay?” I snapped, pushing every ounce of fear and frustration I’d felt at this man’s mercy into my voice to sell it. “I’d do anything to keep my friends safe, so just let her go.”

“You’re so predictable,mi amore.” He sighed wistfully and cupped my cheek. I tried to jerk out of his touch, but his fingers tightened, rooting me in place. “Killing her would be a bigger headache than she’s worth, thanks to who her father is.”

His shoulders slumped slightly, as though it was some sort of great burden to not kill my friend. “But if I let her go, there have to be some rules, starting with, you’re not to see her again. She’s a bad influence on you.”

How little he truly knew . . .

I narrowed my eyes on him incredulously. “I doubt she’d want to have anything to do with me after you abducted her.”

“You’re probably right,” he murmured, amusement lacing his tone. “I’ll let her go, but we have to come to a little understanding first. See, she knows more about us than anyone outside of East Haven, meaning she’s a liability, especially with our expansion across the East Coast.”

The East Coast? I knew they wanted to establish a foothold in New York, but the entire East Coast was news to even me. That was yet another reason why they had to be stopped.

“What kind of understanding?” I stiffened in his hold, hating the way he attempted to soothe me as he ran his thumb over my cheek. Like I’d ever be comforted by the same hands that brought me pain.

“We’ll discuss it tomorrow, but for now, she is safe.”

“Let me see her,” I demanded, batting his hand away. He was still holding my wrist, but at least I could put some space between us now and pull in a full breath. “I need to see that she’s okay, that you haven’t harmed her.”

Tommaso sighed, threading his fingers back through his dark locks, attempting to regain his composure. “I’ll let you see her, but first, we haven’t discussed your side of the bargain.”

“What side of the bargain? Like you already said, I don’t really have much choice in this. Just, please, let me make sure she’s okay.” My pulse thundered, anticipation racing along my skin like a jolt of electricity. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep playing this game, keep luring him in like the prey he unknowingly was.

“Okay,mi amore.” He smiled, his mahogany eyes glinting with triumph.

The asshole believed he was wearing me down, that he was chipping away at me, piece by piece, until nothing was left other than the shell of a woman I’d been before.

“Bring her out,” he shouted, looking up to the second floor through the wrought-iron railing that separated the two floors.

I waited with bated breath, my attention split between him and a few feet of marble floor that was visible from this angle.

He ground his jaw as nothing happened.

“I said bring her out,” he barked, his grip on my wrist tightening as he glared up at the second floor.

Silence.

There was no thud of footsteps or muttered voices, only silence.

“What did you do?” he hissed, wrenching me to face him. Red bloomed across his cheeks and down his neck as rage boiled just beneath the surface.

“What do you mean?” I frowned, easily jerking my arm from his grip in one swift move.

His eyes widened in shock before he quickly schooled his features.

“I’ve been here with you this whole time. How could I have done anything?” I grinned and took a step back, readying for thenext phase of the plan. “Besides, I thought you knew me so well. You predicted I’d show up here by myself and hand myself over to you, right?”

“Giana,” he warned. “This isn’t the time for—”

“Games?” I cut him off, earning a scowl of disapproval. “You keep mentioning games, as though you want to avoid them or put them to rest, yet I don’t think that’s true. It seems that you only like games when you’re the one playing them, not me.”

“What have you done?” His gaze darkened and he took a step toward me, but before he could take another, a body tumbled from the second floor, landing on the marble floor with a sickening smack.

Tommaso cursed under his breath as, one by one, the bodies of his guards came crashing over the railing, cracks splitting in the marble under the force of their weight. He counted them, like he was trying to see if any were left, but as the sixth one crashed onto the floor, piling up on top of two others, that final scrap of hope disappeared.

“I guess you don’t know me as well as you thought.”

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